Mirrors
by CrackedCrow
Summary: Some might find it an advantage to keep watch over the Human World through a strange ornate mirror. Danny thinks it's a pain. -OR- A fic in which the Ghost Zone is a dangerous place, but the living don't seem to understand that.


**Edit: Okay, what the hell? Why was my story posted in codes? Hopefully it's fixed now.**

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 **So, yay! A new story! I... I have no excuse for practically abandoning my other stories. Just... have this one for now, instead.**

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Danny opened the door to his house. The 14-year-old poked his head into the main room, before sighing. He dropped his backpack onto the floor and dug out a paper, heading down the stairs towards the lab to search for his parents. That was the only place they spent their time lately: the lab. They were close to a breakthrough on their portal, and although Danny supported them, he did _not_ appreciate their job being what it was. It got him beat up a lot at school.  
Jumping down the stairs two at a time, he sucked in a deep breath. He landed at the bottom and took a slow step forward.  
"Mom? Dad?"  
"Danny!" came the ecstatic reply. "Just in time! We're about to start up the portal!"  
Danny winced. "Uh, yeah… listen, I just need you to sign something for school and then I'll be on my way…"  
"Nonsense!" Danny's father, Jack, cried out. "We're about to make history here! Stay and watch!"  
Danny sighed in resignation and slumped into an empty chair, watching his parents prepare the portal for activation. As the adults moved around the room, his eyes wandered to the portal. He noticed a strange panel on the inside wall, and, setting his paper down next to the computer where his father was programming the device, carefully stepped into the metal tube.  
He walked further inside, towards the panel, not noticing the wires crisscrossed across the floor of the portal. He finally reached the metal panel, and saw buttons and screws sticking out of the wall. Stepping forward for a closer look, he tripped over a large wire, and his hands flew out in front of him to break his fall.  
But his hands hit the largest button. A green-white light danced throughout the tube, and Danny felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He moved his hands, and his eyes widened in terror as he read the label. He had hit the ON button.  
He turned to run out, but only succeeded in entangling his feet even more. As he fell to the floor, he heard screams- both his own and his parents'. Pain spread through his body like fire as the electricity dug into his skin. Only one thought passed through his mind as his eyes rolled back into his head and his body fell numb. _Please, don't let anyone else ever feel this pain._

A loud, pain filled scream resonated throughout the city block. Babies cried, glasses were dropped, families looked up from their dinner meals. Because even through all the shrieks, they recognized that voice. It belonged to the son of the city's crackpots: the Fenton's. Everyone knew Daniel Fenton, everyone knew that he was bullied at school and slightly neglected at home. And everyone knew that he had an extremely high resistance to pain.  
Whatever the teen was going through must be terribly painful. That seemed to be the only explanation for the sound. Many people picked up their phones and called the police in fear for the boy, but by the time the police arrived, it was too late.  
The boy was dead.

Danny pushed himself up from the floor, his head pounding. _Did I fall out of bed and hit my head or something?_ As he opened his eyes, he was instantly surrounded by bright green. Lifting a hand to shield his eyes, he noticed that his skin was pearl white. _What the heck?!_  
Grunting, he tried to stand. His knees felt weak, but he managed to not fall over. Perhaps it was because he felt weightless? Gravity seemed to have almost no effect on him, and he was slightly worried that he would fly into the air, like he had been afraid of when he was a child.  
He looked down at himself, and realized that he was glowing brightly. Cocking his head to the side, he nervously reached a hand to the back of his neck. His hair fell over his eyes, and he noticed that it too was slightly glowing, and looked wispy.  
"What happened to me...?" he whispered timidly, not expecting an answer. But he got one anyway.  
"You're dead, Daniel."  
Danny jumped at the sudden voice, not absorbing what it had told him. He spun around in a panic to find a blue-skinned figure wearing a purple cloak and carrying a staff. A jagged scar cut across his left eye. But the strangest thing about this new being was that he had a blue wispy tail in place of his legs.  
Danny gulped fearfully, and slowly started to back away. The creature placed both palms up in a signal to not be afraid.  
"You have no need to be afraid of me, Daniel. I am not here to harm you. Instead, I wish to talk to you."  
Danny nodded sharply and stared up at the figure, shaking slightly in fear. The strange creature smiled softly, revealing a green mouth and tongue and human-like teeth.  
"My name is Clockwork."  
Danny tilted his head in confusion, forgetting his former fear. _Clockwork? What kind of name is that?_  
Clockwork smirked, as if he knew what Danny had been thinking. "Now, onto other matters. I'm sure you have noticed that you are not the same as you were before."  
Danny slowly nodded in reply, wondering if Clockwork was going to tell him just _what_ had changed. A moment later, he did.  
"You're dead, Daniel. You're a ghost."  
The impact of what he said finally hit him. For the second time that day, Danny's eyes rolled back into his head and he fell unconscious.

Danny awoke to find himself in a large plush bed. The walls and ceiling were white, and he quickly decided that he was in a hospital. The lack of nurses and medical machines expunged that thought. He looked around, his sore muscles protesting at every movement. As he slowly and painfully pushed himself up to a sitting position, he gaped at the amount of pure white in the room. This was _definitely_ not a hospital, even hospitals had more color than this.  
Danny slowly maneuvered his stiff body out of the bed and stood on the cold floor, his bare feet dancing across the white tile in an effort to warm up. He head spun around as he glanced around, looking for a way to get out, to go anywhere other than this room. All of the white was starting to make him feel uncomfortable.  
He finally saw a door, shut tight, but not locked. He staggered towards it on unsteady feet and swung the door open, practically collapsing inside. His head jerked upwards and he looked around.  
He was in an extremely large walk-in closet with a small bathroom on the far side. As he steadied himself against the wall, his eyes were drawn to a black framed mirror, the only other color he had seen so far. He stumbled closer, intrigued by the intricate swirls and designs surrounding the edges of the glass.  
His eyes wandered from the designs to his reflection, and once again, he felt faint. He collapsed to his knees and held himself upright with shaking arms.  
His once black hair was now white and shimmered slightly, dissipating at the tips like flame. His eyes were a toxic green, and glowed, whereas before they had both been sky blue. His skin had paled until it was no longer a pale tan, but instead chalk white, and glowing.  
After a moment of staring in shock, he turned his gaze to his clothes. The once red-and-white T-shirt had inverted, and was now black with green trim. His blue jeans had paled to an off-white color. He could only guess that his sneakers had changed colors, too.  
Danny took a shaky breath, absorbing the information. There was no doubt in his mind now that what Clockwork said had been the truth.  
As Danny timidly ran a twitching hand through his hair, the mirror shimmered and shifted until he could no longer see his reflection. He watched in awe as a scene appeared, as if it were a screen. The image shifted, coming through in small pixels, like a PowerPoint transition.  
Peering closer, he recognized parts of the image. A black haired, blue eyed boy was being gently lifted into a large black body bag, the people around him looking on with tears flowing freely. An African American boy and a pale goth girl clung to each other, as a tall redhead sat curled up on the driveway, all three bawling.  
Danny winced. _So I really am dead... and Sam, Tuck, and Jazz are all broken... what about my parents?_ He turned his head slightly to the side, as if he was looking out a window, and the image on the screen shifted. His mother was curled up on the couch, tear stains covering her face, and her lilac eyes were blank. Her auburn hair was messy and spread all over, as if she hadn't combed it in days. His father, the large, normally joyous man, sat next to her, trying to comfort her, but obviously failing. He looked years older and as if he would collapse if he moved the slightest bit.  
Danny closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and trying to keep the tears away. Opening them once again, his green gaze wandered back outside, towards the ambulance that carried his body. The screen followed the truck, ending at a mortuary. As his body was carried indoors, he noticed tears glistening on the cheeks of the man who held open the door. _Strange,_ Danny thought, _wouldn't he be used to death? He works at a mortuary after all._  
Sighing, Danny ignored the mirror until they cut his shirt off of him and he noticed the large, horrible scars. His skin was bruised a light purple, contrasting to the white, jagged, lightning-like scars covering his chest and sides. He could only guess that if they flipped him over, he would see the same on his back.  
Danny turned away, feeling nauseous, and shut his eyes tightly, involuntary tears leaking out. Another shaky breath, which he suddenly realized he didn't need, and he turned back, only to find the scene changed. Even though somewhere in the back of his mind told him that it wasn't logical, he knew instinctively that it was the next day.  
The mirror showed his school, Casper High. Seeing as how he couldn't find them in their usual places, Danny decided that his friends and sister had stayed home. Not that he blamed them. An assembly was called, and all of the students and teachers who _were_ there shuffled to the auditorium.  
Danny was a little surprised by the fact that the principal announced his death to the whole school. The teachers who hadn't known paled and even the A-listers, who bullied him daily, looked sad. But perhaps it was only because their favorite victim was gone.  
Suddenly, the image vanished, swirling away quicker than Danny could blink. Confused, he stood and walked back into the bedroom area. He curled up on the bed and wrapped the warm white comforter tightly around his body, closing his eyes. He opened them once more when he felt another presence enter the room, turning his head to find Clockwork looking at him with a thoughtful expression.  
Danny watched him with tired eyes, unable to comprehend the shocked look that had suddenly appeared on the elder ghost's face. Clockwork muttered something quietly, just loud enough for Danny to hear. "I can't see his timeline... could he be...?"  
Danny blinked in confusion. "Be what?"  
Once again, Clockwork seemed startled. He probably didn't mean to speak out loud. He shook his head as if to clear it and a mask of indifference covered his face. "Never mind that. How have you been, all circumstances considered?"  
Danny turned his head to the other side, refusing to look the elder ghost in the eyes. He shrugged. "Fine, I guess..."  
Clockwork sighed sadly and floated closer, placing a hand at the foot of the bed. "I am sorry that you had to die at such a young age. But I'm afraid that it was important to both the universe and the timeline."  
Danny blinked in confusion. "What?"  
Clockwork sighed. "Every action, every choice, can change the timeline - our reality - in catastrophic ways. For instance, if, say, Adolf Hitler, were born just a split second later, he would have been a completely different person, and that -"  
"Would have messed up the timeline. Our world would be absolutely different…" Danny muttered.  
The elder ghost grinned. "So you understand. Good. Now, onto other matters. Do you wish to go downstairs, get acquainted with your new home?"  
Danny hesitated before nodding slowly. "Yes, I would…"  
Clockwork nodded and floated towards the door, motioning for Danny to follow.

When they reached the main room, Clockwork watched in amusement as Danny looked around in awe.  
The room was elegant, like something you might see in a medieval castle. The walls were brick, and the floor was a pale red tile. Stained glass windows decorated each corner, with draperies hung from the walls.  
Danny was guided into a large room, in the center of the tower. The room was decorated the same as the others with the exception of one thing- or rather, multiples of the same thing. Large round screens floated everywhere in the room, with the largest being set on a stand in the middle of the floor. The screens glowed green with green and black swirls in the center. They almost looked the same as the mirror that Danny had found.  
Remembering this, Danny wondered if these screens functioned the same as the mirror. Staring at the largest screen, he vaguely noticed that his eyes seemed to glow. He was stuck in place, unable to move, yet he felt drawn to it.

* * *

Danny knew that something was happening, that he was no longer on the physical realm, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He felt an odd peace, as if nothing could hurt him. All of the information of the universe seemed to trickle into his brain, confusing him. As he started to get overwhelmed, a hand touching his head brought him out of his mind...

* * *

Clockwork watched Danny with interest. Perhaps his first assumption had been correct. Perhaps the child _did_ have a neutral core. If so, then he would be the first ghost to have one. Clockwork had a similar core, but he was a spirit, an ancient, and was therefore not classified as a ghost.  
Clockwork turned his attention back to Danny. His eyes glowed a bright green light, and he seemed as if he were in a trance, his feet placed firmly on the floor.  
Clockwork sighed. He knew from experience, even though it was - literally - an eternity ago, how terrifying being trapped from the influence of the viewing screens could be.  
He floated closer and placed a hand gently on the boy's head, attempting to shake him out of the trance...

* * *

Danny blinked and shook his head as if to clear it. _What just happened?_ As if sensing the question, Clockwork explained.  
"What just occurred is what is known as an Omni-trance. Only myself, and now apparently you, will experience it."  
"Why only us?" Danny asked, cocking his head to the side.  
"I am a spirit, and the only being known to have a Time Core. You however, from what I can sense of your aura, are the first ghost to have a Neutral Core, meaning that your core is a mix of two or more types."  
Danny blinked once, twice, before opening his mouth. "I'm sorry, my parents may have been paranormal scientists, but that doesn't mean _I_ am. I have absolutely no clue what you just said."  
Clockwork shook his head. _Why am I expecting a child to understand the laws of the physical universe?_ He spoke slowly, so as to let Danny absorb the information. "Ghosts do not have a heart. Instead, we have Cores. Just as a heart pumps blood, a Core pumps ghostly energy. Ghost energy is different from the energy humans use. Our energies are... elemental in a way. A ghost can have an Weather Core, therefore they would have weather based energy and powers, such as ice. Or an Earth Core, and they would be able to control plants and such. Do you understand?"  
Danny paused for a moment, then nodded. "You said that I have a Neutral Core. What does that mean, exactly?"  
"Well, first off, you must know the different types of energies. The most common is Fire. Then there is Ice, Plant, Sound, Mind, Darkness, Light, Electricity, and Magic. These energies divide into different Core categories: Ice and Fire, although complete opposites, are both part of a Weather Core, as is Electricity and Sound. Darkness and Light are part of the Shadow Core, Plant energy is the base energy for the Earth Core, and Mind and Magic energies belong to the Menso Core, which is the Ancient Ghost language for Mind. My powers are not included in any of that, because I am not a ghost, I am a spirit. You, however... you have a Neutral, or Mixed, Core, meaning that you have more than one Core type. Ghosts can have more than one type of energy, as long as they belong to the same Core category, but what you have has never been heard of. Before now, it was merely a theory."  
"So, how do you know for certain that I have a Neutral Core, if it's not supposed to be real?"  
Clockwork paused. "One of my powers is to sense what type of Core someone has. When I found you, I couldn't sense yours. It was muddled together, which has never happened before."  
Danny nodded, accepting the explanation. "So, what energy types do I have, then?"  
Clockwork blinked. _He's accepting this all rather quickly..._ He sighed. "Well, from what I could pick out, it seems you have a slight mix of three Cores: Weather, Mind, and, stranger than the Neutral Core even, a Time Core. I am the only one since the beginning of history to have a Time Core, so I am quite surprised by this."  
Clockwork paused when he noticed the dazed look on Danny's face. With a faint smile, Clockwork shook his head and picked up the half-asleep teen, carrying him to his new room. _I can tell already, the years that he will be with me are going to be the strangest of my afterlife._


End file.
